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Update – 10 October 2022 – Aussies Return Home with Silverware

Following a strong day one from Team Australia at the New Zealand National Youth Teams Champs, the Aussies continued their outstanding play, with one team crowned champions and the other rounding out the podium in third place.

Day Two

What a day for the Aussies! After a solid first day, Team Australia continued that hot form on day two.

Kicking off day two, the two Australian teams faced each other in game six of the champs. Again, Australia Green would show why they topped the standings on day one with a flawless performance.

Australia green would set a new team game record at the New Zealand National Youth Teams Champs by bowling 1,220, which meant a team average of 244.

The record-setting team consisted of Jackson Buckingham (229), Jessica Canfield (189), Tamika Pettigrew (244), Nicholas Rajkovic (279), and Blake Walsh (279), with Liam Cochrane the reserve for the game.

North City Ice set the benchmark the day before setting a record yesterday in Game 3 of 1,142 before being obliterated by the Aussies on day two.

The record-breaking score is not just high for the age group but all five-person team events in the country of New Zealand. Australia Green’s record of 1220 is now the highest 5-person team game ever rolled in New Zealand, eclipsing the pinfall of 1210 by the Waitakere Men’s team in 2007.

After the showdown between the Australian teams, both squads carried confidence and incredible bowling for the remaining five games of the day. Australian Green and Australia gold would both go undefeated in their matchups. The feat allowed Australia Green to maintain their grip on the Sign fusion challenge shield and extend their lead in the standings one day to go.

Day Three

The five final games of the total 16 were scheduled for the last day of competition as Australia looked to collect some silverware ending their trip to New Zealand.

It was much the same on day three, with both Australian teams facing each other to kick off the day.

Australia Green would again prove too strong and continue their unbeaten streak ending the day 5-0. After their defeat in Game one, Australia Gold would also return to form by ending the day 4-1.

An incredible performance and result for both Australian Teams.

Australia Green was crowned champions of the New Zealand National Youth Teams Championship after finishing on an astonishing 114.5 points, 17,208 pinfall and 14,622 pinfall against.

Waitakere Rangers would finish second on 96.5 points ahead of Australia Gold, who rounded out the podium on 81.5 points – narrowly passing North City Ice in fourth on 81 points.

Nicholas Rajkovic would top of a wonderful New Zealand campaign by finishing on top of the Male All-Stars race. Averaging 238.1 over 15 games with a high of 279 was an amazing result for the hard-working junior from Victoria.

His partner in crime, Blake Walsh, would finish in second spot with an average of 234.3 and Jackson Buckingham in fifth position averaging 221.1.

For the girls, Tamika Pettigrew claimed the top spot averaging 192.8 over 13 games while teammate Jessica Canfield would finish in the third spot with an average of 190.4. A total of five Australians named All-Stars – a fantastic result!

A trio of Aussies led the male division for high games, with Nicholas Rajkovic, Blake Walsh and Trent McDougall bowling 279 games. Bianca Shima would finish with the highest game in the girls division with a 248.

The results capped off a hugely successful week for Team Australia.

Awards kept flowing in at the presentation dinner that followed.  Some of these included:

• New Zealand Junio (u18) Boy’s National Champion – Silver – Blake Walsh
• New Zealand Youth (u21) Men’s National Champion – Bronze – Blake Walsh
• New Zealand Youth (u21) Women’s National Champion – Silver – Emma Blunden
• New Zealand Junior (u18) Girl’s National Champion – Silver – Bianca Shima
• New Zealand National Youth (u21) Teams Championship Outstanding Sportsmanship Awards (voted by the bowlers) – Blake Walsh and Jessica Roberts (NZ).
• New Zealand National Youth (u21) Teams Championship Outstand Achievement Awards – Jessica Canfield and Nicholas Rajkovic

Tenpin Bowling Australia wishes to congratulate all members of the Australian team that made the trip to New Zealand this year.  The bowling community is very proud of your amazing achievements!

We thank New Zealand Tenpin Bowling for hosting us in their beautiful country for the week. We have no doubts this is the start of something special between the two nations on the lanes.

A special shoutout to Paul Pettit, father of the superstar Ben Pettit, for consistently keeping everyone up to date on the NZ Katipo Supporters Facebook page. We really appreciate your hospitality and efforts while our team travelled to your country.

 For all the individual scores and results, head over to https://tbnz.co.nz/2022/07/10/2022-national-youth-team-championships/ to check it out.

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Update: 7 October

The first day of the National Youth Teams Championships is complete and the scores can be found at https://tbnz.co.nz/2022/07/10/2022-national-youth-team-championships/ .

Both the Aussie teams have started strongly with our ‘Australia Green’ team clearly on top and our ‘Australia Gold’ team in 5^th, but only 4 points from 2^nd.

Australian Green bowler Nicholas Rajkovic continued his amazing trip across the ditch, leading the Male All-Stars race after day one, averaging an incredible 238.8 in four games. His ‘green’ teammates are also fairing well, with Blake Walsh in third place and Jackson Buckingham in fourth place.

Tamika Pettigrew leads the female all-stars race after averaging 198.8 over five games, with teammate Jessica Canfield in third.

The National Youth Teams Championships has an interesting side quest to it.

All teams play for the ‘Signfusion Challenge Shield’ every game. The Waitakere Rangers were the original holders of the shield having won it in 2019 and have hung on to ever since. The thing with the Signfusion Challenge Shield is that you hold it until you lose!

The Rangers held onto it after beating Australia Gold in match one 1067-950, only to lose to North City Ice 1037-903 the next match. North City held it for one more game after defeating the Waitakere Sparks before Australia Green swept North City Ice aside with a score of 1133-1018.

Australia Green ended the day easily defending the shield against Waitakere Fusion 1081-824 to be the shield holders going into day two.

The Aussies have a tough road ahead with six games scheduled for day two before the final five games on the third and final day.

Check out the fantastic walk-in songs and entrances by the teams over there!

For all the latest scores, please head to https://tbnz.co.nz/2022/07/10/2022-national-youth-team-championships/ and for all the latest updates, make sure you are following the   NZ Katipō Tenpin Bowling Supporters Facebook page who continue to provide great content here – https://www.facebook.com/groups/1109147279664009

Let’s go Aussies!!!

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Update 6 October

Following the conclusion of the TBNZ Junior Nationals, Team Australia competed in the inaugural un-18 Trans-Tasman Challenge.

The five-person team’s challenge saw bowlers compete in a first to 6 wins baker format event.

New Zealand came out on top in a tight battle, eventually claiming the inaugural trophy, winning 6 games to 4.

The bowlers representing Team Australia in the challenge were:

• Blake Walsh
• Nicholas Rajkovic
• Jackson Buckingham
• Bianca Shima
• Jessica Canfield

Congratulations to all bowlers and officials who became the first-ever representatives in the new Trans-Tasman Challenge event concept.

No rest for the wicked as Team Australia now turns its attention to the National Youth Teams Championship.

Starting today, the event will run for three days and conclude on Saturday afternoon.

Every team will play every other team once, then split into top 6 and bottom six for five more games (16 games in total). Each match is five head-to-head games with a point for a win (1/2 point for a draw) and 3 points for the overall team pinfall. So, 8 points on offer in each match.

Teams that drop into the bottom six will be able to finish 7th overall by topping their pool and cannot accumulate points to overtake teams in the top six.

Teams of six mean one bowler sits out each game but all bowlers must bowl at least 50% of the games. Each team must have at least two girls.

The defending champions North City Ice (with three sets of siblings!) will be looking to defend their title.

The opening ceremony and National Anthems will be at approx 9.45am local time with game one starting after that.

The full day 1 schedule is (local times):

Thursday October 6 (NZ times)

• 8.45am Lane Conditioning
• 9.45am Opening Ceremony
• 10.10am Games 1 and 2
• 12.30pm Lane Conditioning / Lunch
• 1.30pm Games 3, 4 and 5
• 5.00pm Day Concludes

Tournament hub here with team lists etc and will have results links: https://tbnz.co.nz/…/2022-national-youth-team…/

Live scores here: https://livescores.computerscore.com.au/view-lanes.php…

Live streams here: https://youtube.com/user/pinsnz1

NZ Katipō Tenpin Bowling Supporters Facebook Page – This site is getting frequently updated by our friend Paul Pettit who is on the ground at the event. A great page to keep up to date with everything going on over the next few days – https://www.facebook.com/groups/1109147279664009

Please follow the above links over the next few days and we will provide a New Zealand trip wrap on the results early next week.

We wish Team Australia the best of luck in the final leg of the New Zealand Tour.

Note – Thank you to Paul Pettit and Team New Zealand for providing information on the event that we can share on our platforms.

National Youth Championship Teams

Australia Gold

Australia Green

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Update: 5 October

Wednesday saw the TBNZ Junior Youth Nationals come to a close.

Team Australia faired extremely well in the events they competed in and collected several medals in the process.

Congratulations to the following bowlers who won medals in events at the TBNZ Junior Youth Nationals.

• Youth Male Singles – Silver Medal – Nicholas Rajkovic
• Junior Male Singles – Silver Medal – Blake Walsh
• Junior Female Singles – Silver Medal – Katy Melton
• Junior Female Singles – Bronze Medal – Jessica Canfield
• Youth Male Doubles – Gold Medal – Jackson Buckingham and Blake Walsh
• Junior Male Doubles – Gold Medal – Blake Walsh and Nicholas Rajkovic
• Youth Female Doubles – Bronze Medal – Tamika Pettigrew and Emma Blunden
• Junior Female Doubles – Gold Medal – Jessica Canfield and Tamika Pettigrew
• Youth Male Teams – Silver Medal – Blake Walsh, Liam Cochrane, Ryan Chi and Jackson Buckingham
• Junior Male Teams – Silver Medal – Blake Walsh, Nicholas Rajkovic, Cooper Hillyer and Trent McDougall
• Junior Female Teams – Bronze Medal – Jessica Canfield, Tamika Pettigrew, Emma Blunden and Katy Melton
• Youth Male All Events – Silver Medal – Nicholas Rajkovic
• Junior Male All Events – Silver Medal – Blake Walsh
• Youth Female All Events – Silver Medal – Emma Blunden
• Junior Female All Events – Bronze Medal – Jessica Canfield
• Open Junior Masters Male– Bronze Medal – Blake Walsh
• Junior Boys National Champion – Silver Medal – Blake Walsh
• Open Junior Masters Female – Gold Medal – Bianca Shima
• Junior Girls National Champion – Silver Medal – Bianca Shima
• Youth Women’s Masters – Silver Medal – Emma Blunden
• Youth Women’s National Champion – Silver Medal – Emma Blunden

For all the final results of the TBNZ Junior Youth Nationals, please visit – https://tbnz.co.nz/2022/07/15/2022-junior-youth-nationals/

“What a fantastic result for Team Australia,” said head coach Shane Berhardt.

“Our bowlers have represented the country fantastically so far on the trip and I couldn’t be more proud of the deserving results we are seeing.”

“We look forward to the next phase of the trip and competing in the Trans-Tasman Challenge this afternoon and Youth Challenge starting tomorrow” added Bernhardt.

A special shout out to Nicholas Rajkovic who as mentioned in yesterday’s update, bowled a 300 game in the 5^th match of his youth singles event. According to TBNZ records, this is the first time an Australian bowler has achieved a 300-game in New Zealand since 1994 when Billy Gardiner achieved the same feat.

The inaugural Trans-Tasman Challenge kicks off at 3.30 pm local time this afternoon which is 1.30 pm Melbourne time.

Make sure you check out the stream at Lincoln Pins for lanes 15-24 at http://www.youtube.com/pinsnz1

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A record has fallen!

Congratulations to Jackson Buckingham and Blake Walsh who have broken the New Zealand Youth (u21) doubles record of 1,451 (avg 241) breaking the previous record by 55 pins.

Amazing bowling by the pair with Blake bowling 718 and Jackson 733.

For all results as they are entered, head to the TBNZ Junior Youth Nationals Page here. Previously linked results may have been replaced since the last update so please follow this page for all results.

For all the latest updates on Facebook, please make sure you are following the NZ Katipō Tenpin Bowling Supporters page here.

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Update from Sunday, October 2nd

TBNZ Nationals – Singles, Doubles, Singles

Sunday saw the team compete in the first events for the trip.

The Tenpin Bowling New Zealand Junior Nationals is the first event on the trip with bowlers competing in singles and doubles squads.

It didn’t take long for the Aussies to make their mark with Victorian Nicholas Rajkovic bowling a 300 game in match number five of six for the day.

Nicholas becomes the first Tenpin Bowling Australian bowler to bowl a 300 in New Zealand since Billy Gardiner in 1994. He also achieved an 800 series during the block with 246, 259 and 300 – 805.

Australian Results Top 10 Results

Youth Male Singles

• Nicholas Rajkovic – 2^nd –– 200, 215, 246, 259, 300, 237 – 1457 pinfall
• Blake Walsh – 6^th – 185, 243, 188, 193, 176, 222 – 1207 pinfall
• Cooper Hillyer – 8^th – 210, 176, 215, 190, 167, 223 -1181 pinfall

Full Youth Singles Results

Nicholas Rajkovic from Tenpin Bowling Australia with a new Youth (U21) singles record of 1,457 for six games (242.8 average).

Games of 200, 215, 246, 259, 300, 237.

Junior Male Singles

• 2^nd – Blake Walsh – 152, 236, 234, 279, 203, 245 – 1349
• 6^th Jackson Buckingham – 243, 199, 214, 205, 190, 214 – 1265
• 7^th – Trent McDougall – 214, 221, 211, 202, 191, 200 – 1239

Full Male Junior Singles Results

Youth Female Singles

• 5^th – Emma Blunden – 165, 172, 193, 147, 151, 200 -1028
• 6^th – Jessica Canfield – 143, 170, 154, 211, 199, 131 -1008
• 9^th – Tamika Pettigrew – 134, 149, 233, 153, 169, 146 – 984

Full Female Youth Singles Results

Junior Female Singles

• 2^nd– Katy Melton – 180, 166, 155, 145, 168, 187 – 1001
• 3^rd – Jessica Canfield – 133, 166, 141, 183, 188, 182 – 993
• 6^th – Emma Blunden – 189, 157, 136, 160, 179, 117 – 938
• 7^th – Tamika Pettigrew – 160, 155, 168, 135, 149, 165 – 932
• 8^th – Bianca Shima – 168, 139, 184, 124, 174, 138- 927

Full Female Junior Singles Results

Doubles

Youth Female Doubles

• 6^th – Katy Melton and Natalie Baker – 1004

Full Youth Female Doubles Results

Junior Boys Doubles

• 1^st– Blake Walsh and Nicholas Rajkovic – 1278
• 4^th – Liam Cochrane and Isaac Larsen – 1136
• 6^th – Ryan Chi and Jackson Buckingham – 1095
• 9^th – Cooper Hillyer and Trent McDougall – 1066

Full Male Junior Doubles Results

Junior Female Doubles

• 1^st – Jessica Canfield and Tamika Pettigrew – 1065
• 3^rd – Emma Blunden and Bianca Shima – 1004

Full Female Junior Doubles Results

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TBNZ Nationals – Teams

Youth Male Teams

• 2^nd – Blake Walsh, Liam Cochrane, Ryan Chi, Jackson Buckingham – 2415
• 5^th – Trent McDougall, Nicholas Rajkovic, Cooper Hillyer, Karlos Adams – 2192

Full Youth Male Team Results

Junior Male Teams

• 2^nd – Blake Walsh, Nicholas Rajkovic, Cooper Hillyer, Trent McDougall – 2503
• 4^th – Ryan Chi, Jackson Buckingham, Liam Cochrane, Ronan Richardson – 2160

Full Junior Male Team Results

Youth Female Teams

• 5^th – Jessica Canfield, Katy Melton, Bianca Shima, Tamika Pettigrew – 1970
• 6^th – Emma Blunden, Stacey Lister, Mila Jankowsky, Mya Anderson – 1814
• 7^th – Bianca Shima, Stacey Lister, Emilee Adams, Sophie-Lee Leydesdorff – 1762

Full Female Youth Teams Results

Junior Female Teams

• 3^rd – Jessica Canfield, Tamika Pettigrew, Emma Blunden, Katy Melton – 1906

Full female junior teams results

For all results as they are entered, head to the TBNZ Junior Youth Nationals Page here.

This includes the All-Events results as they are finalised.

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Update from Saturday 1 October

After the designated travel day yesterday, the team took to the streets of New Zealand for some sightseeing.

The team visited the Sky Tower in Auckland to get a bird’s eye view of New Zealand. The tower stands 328 metres tall, and the team enjoyed the experience.

Following some sightseeing, the team attended Pins Lincoln for their first training session in the afternoon.

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Update from Saturday 1 October

NTS 18 Arrive in New Zealand

A contingent of juniors from the National Training Squad (NTS) 18 have arrived safely in New Zealand for several competitions from 2-8 October 2022.

Following the decision not to send the junior team to the Asian Schools Championships in Thailand this year, Tenpin Bowling Australia (TBA) sourced alternative opportunities to allow the junior athletes to compete internationally.

“We are thrilled to have received an invitation from Tenpin Bowling New Zealand (TBNZ) to attend several national events and allow the NTS18 to put their skills to the test against our Trans-Tasman neighbours” said Tenpin Bowling Australia CEO Rohan O’Neill.

“Teams from New Zealand have travelled to Australia to compete in our national events for many years, and for the NTS18 to have a similar opportunity and travel to the beautiful country that is New Zealand is exciting for all involved.

“We look forward to getting over there and having the opportunity to further advance our relationship, whilst showcasing the best Australian and New Zealand junior talent,” added O’Neill.

The travelling Australian junior team will be stationed at Pins Lincoln in Henderson, Auckland, for the trip and will compete in events throughout the running of the TBNZ Nationals for both the junior and youth divisions. In addition to participating in the national championship events, the two countries will compete in the inaugural Trans-Tasman Challenge.

The Trans-Tasman Challenge will pit both countries against each other in a five-player mixed teams baker format event over ten games. The Trans-Tasman Challenge will run on October 5 at 3.30pm NZ time.

“We are excited about the potential the Trans-Tasman Challenge has to be a regular international event for all age groups of our national teams,” said Rohan O’Neill. “Other sports hold similar prestigious events between the two countries, and we look forward to seeing what we can do with Tenpin Bowling New Zealand who we have great respect for as a tenpin bowling international federation”.

NTS18 Head Coach Shane Bernhardt is excited about the trip to New Zealand after a tough few years for his squads, limiting their involvement in international competition.

“This is a brilliant opportunity for our elite junior athletes to travel together, compete on the international stage and experience what it’s like to represent Australia,” said Bernhardt.

“We invited all our NTS18 for the trip, and a large majority accepted to be involved in the journey, which will be a fantastic development opportunity for our bowlers.

“We are confident that we have a special group eager to do their best for their country,” added Bernhardt.

We will open the ‘NTS18 in NZ hub’, providing information and updates about schedules, links, results, and photos throughout the trip that we receive. So keep your eyes out on the website for this.

We congratulate and wish the travelling Australian team the best of luck on their trip.

GO AUSTRALIA!

Team Australia travelling to New Zealand

Female

• Bianca Shima
• Jessica Canfield
• Katy Melton
• Tamika Pettigrew
• Emma Blunden

Male

• Ryan Chi
• Jackson Buckingham
• Liam Cochrane
• Cooper Hillyer
• Nicholas Rajkovic
• Trent McDougall
• Blake Walsh

Officials

• Shane Bernhardt – head coach
• Bianca Flanagan – assistant coach
• Jamie Taafe – Team Manager
• Dee Taafe – Team Manager